Leave London for an open air gallery in West Yorkshire

Daydreaming about getting out of the city? Check out our pick of places that are worth leaving the confines of the M25 for... 

Yorkshire Sculpture Park is one of the best open-air galleries you’ll ever set eyes on. Fact. Wander across the 500 acres of rolling countryside just outside Wakefield and you’ll stumble upon over 80 sculptures of all shapes, sizes and materials, from Antony Gormley’s ‘One & Other’ – an imposing figure standing on top of a tree – and Barbara Hepworth’s ‘The Family of Man’ to Ai Weiwei’s ‘Iron Tree’. 

Sheep graze serenely under Henry Moore’s work and you can get right up to – and touch much of – the art. The meeting of nature and sculpture makes for a soul-stirring day and time hurtles by. You could easily end up roaming for six hours and not feel bored. 

Take a bracing walk through the woods where the trees whisper poetry and have a rest by a peaceful lake where the only sound is the ducks darting in and out of the water. Best of all, it's totally free.

Find out more and plan your visit here.

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